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Thursday, March 30, 2017

Healthy Habits: The Skinny on Prebiotics and Probiotics

With summer right around the corner, you may be starting to think about
“suiting up,” and shed those few pesky pounds that just won’t go away,
but most likely won’t succeed. Clearly, this has become an increasing
source of frustration for many Americans. In fact, a recent report
emphasizes just this. The incidence of obesity in the general
population in the United States is steadily rising but fewer and fewer
adults are attempting to moderate their weight. It seems as if a
significant segment of our population has given up on dieting. Yet, how
can we blame people for not persisting in a repeated pattern of failure.
Typical diets that only concentrate on portion control or a limited
food palette consistently fail and the reason is that these measures
don't address the entire story.

Your Microbiome and Weight Control

New research has revealed a number of surprises about weight control.
The greatest of these has been the realization that on a biological
basis, we are not the single creature that we assume. Instead, our
bodies are an astounding combination of our own innate cells and a vast
number microbial inhabitants. And these microbes are not just passive
hanger's on. Our microbes form essential aspects of our gut, respiratory
system, and skin and outnumber our own personal cells by a factor of 10
to 1. This later fraction is our microbiome and recent studies are
revealing an extensive metabolic interplay between these crucial
microbes and our own cells.

Contemporary research has revealed that our microbes make a significant
contribution to our subjective responses to food and sensation of
satiety that directly influence obesity. For example, there are
differences between the microbiomes of lean and obese individuals.
Overweight adults and children tend to show a decrease in microbial
diversity compared to leaner individuals. Certain foods can influence
this crucial gut microbial composition and some supplements, called
prebiotics and probiotics, can do likewise.

Introducing Prebiotics and Probiotics Into Your Diet

Prebiotics are typically non-digestible fibers, such as oligofructose or
inulin that beneficial microbes can utilize for their metabolism.
Examples of prebiotic foods, which contain these fibers, include:

Raw chicory root

Bananas

Jerusalem Artichoke

Leeks

Onions

Garlic

Asparagus

Wheat bran

Probiotics
are those foods that directly add some useful strains of bacteria that
are elements of a healthy gut microbiome. These include:

Natural Yogurts

Dark Chocolate

Kimchi

Sauerkraut

Kefir

Miso

Both
prebiotic and probiotic foods can guide the gut microbiome towards a
pattern that is the most healthful for that individual. Prebiotic and
probiotic foods and some supplements have been specifically demonstrated
to positively affect weight management. For example, the use of
prebiotic supplements are associated with improved satiety in overweight
adults. In another just completed Canadian study these positive results
were documented in obese adolescents. Their use of prebiotic
supplementation was associated with weight loss and a significant
reduction in calorie consumption.

Until recently, it was believed that appetite and satiety were only
dependent upon an intrinsic gut/brain axis of circulating molecules from
the cells that line our gut. Our assumption had been that only our own
gut tissues were sending signals of fullness and satisfaction to
specific centers in the brain. Instead, it is clear that our gut
microbes are directly participating in that circuit by giving off
bioactive molecules that tell us whether we are full or still hungry,
and surprisingly, this circuit is dependent on a complex interplay
between our gut cells and our microbe's assessment of their own needs.

The foods we eat can alter these microbial communities in our digestive
tract. In turn, our complex human behaviors such as anxiety, learning,
memory, satiety and appetite are influenced. In each of these
circumstances, it is not typically an issue of eradicated one type of
microbe in favor of another. Instead, it is always a matter of the
balance of all of the varying participants within the gut microbial
ecology that leads to the proper proportion of the correct microbes for
our best health. Adjusting this balance is crucial as it is now
understood that microbial gut imbalance, called dysbiosis, can be
associated with obesity and its consequences, such as insulin
resistance, Type II diabetes, hypertension and elevated blood lipids .

With this blizzard of new information and the vast range of alternatives
that are emerging, what is the best thing to do, right now, for general
good health and to assist in practical weight management? Fortunately,
there is a simple solution to this complex problem based on a wealth of
sound scientific data. Adjust your diet, as much as you can to include
the best sources of prebiotic and probiotic fiber and consider adding an
effective prebiotic or probiotic supplement.

Dr. Bill Miller has been a physician in academic and private
practice for over 30 years. He is the author of The Microcosm Within:
Evolution and Extinction in the Hologenome. He currently serves as a
scientific advisor to Prebiotin. For more information,
www.themicrocosmwithin.com.